Balloon Rabbit (Red)

From a three-ton rabbit to a porcelain one

The red porcelain rabbit is a miniature of one of Jeff Koons's largest sculptures. The original Balloon Rabbit, made between 2005 and 2010, stands more than four meters high and weighs about three tons. It was fabricated in mirror-polished stainless steel with a transparent color coating, in five unique versions: blue, magenta, violet, red and yellow.

Both belong to Celebration, Koons's long-running series about the rituals, icons and images of birthdays, holidays and other festive occasions. The balloon animals in that series, starting with the Balloon Dog in the 1990s, take a twisted party balloon and freeze it as a permanent, mirror-bright object.

Asked why a rabbit, Koons pointed to his childhood: 'It comes from my upbringing, I grew up in south-central Pennsylvania, in a rural community.' At holidays, people decorated their front yards, with reindeer at Christmas and, around Easter, inflatable rabbits.

Koons and the Limoges porcelain house

Koons was born in York, Pennsylvania, in 1955. As a boy he painted copies of Old Master pictures that were sold in his father's furniture and decorating shop. He studied at the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore and briefly at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and rose to fame in the 1980s with series such as Equilibrium, Luxury and Degradation, and Banality, which included the life-size porcelain Michael Jackson and Bubbles.

Bernardaud, the porcelain manufacturer founded in Limoges, France, in 1863, announced the collaboration on May 27, 2017. Three of Koons's Celebration sculptures, Balloon Swan, Balloon Rabbit and Balloon Monkey, were translated into porcelain, each in an edition of 999, and offered across a range of colors including magenta, red, violet, blue and yellow. Bernardaud had worked with other artists before, including Marina Abramović and the Campana brothers.

Koons has said what he is proudest of is making work that lets viewers not feel intimidated by art. A numbered porcelain multiple, shipped in its own presentation box, is that idea in object form.

The year the art market went to extremes

The porcelain edition arrived in a year of extraordinary prices. In May 2017 a 1982 Jean-Michel Basquiat painting sold for $110.5 million at auction in New York, a record for an American artist. In November, the Salvator Mundi attributed to Leonardo da Vinci sold for $450 million with fees, the most expensive artwork ever sold.

Koons's own steel works sat near the top of that market. His Balloon Dog (Orange) had sold for $58.4 million at auction in 2013, a record at the time for a living artist, and in May 2019 his 1986 stainless steel Rabbit would bring $91.1 million. Against those numbers, a signed, numbered porcelain rabbit from the same family of images was an accessible way in.

From the shop window to the auction room

Bernardaud's own listing gives the red rabbit at $18,000 and marks the edition of 999 as sold out; a New York gallery shop lists it at $19,500, also sold out. Copies now change hands on the secondary market several times a year.

On February 12, 2025, number 089/999 sold at auction in the U.S. for $8,890 with fees, against an estimate of $8,000 to $12,000. It came with its Bernardaud certificate of authenticity and original box, and had been bought originally from a U.S. department store. Earlier, number 754/999 sold at auction in London for £17,500, against an estimate of £8,000 to £12,000.

The red rabbit also turns up in sets with the yellow swan and blue monkey. A set of the three sold for $40,000 in September 2020 and another for $30,480 in January 2025, both at U.S. auctions.

How to identify one

Turn it over. The underside carries a printed signature, the title, the words 'Limited Edition Fine Porcelain', the edition number out of 999, the year '17 and the Bernardaud name. A genuine example should come with a Bernardaud certificate of authenticity and the original Styrofoam-lined presentation box with a silver printed signature.

Measurements differ from catalog to catalog. One auction house gives 29 x 14 x 23 cm, another 26.7 x 14 x 17.8 cm, and a gallery shop lists 29.2 x 21 x 14 cm. The differences most likely reflect how each measured a curved object rather than different versions, but buyers should not expect an exact match.

Color matters. The same rabbit was issued in other colors, including violet, and the swan and monkey come in several colors too, so check that the listing is for the red rabbit specifically.

The numbers

Medium

Glazed porcelain

Dimensions

29 x 14 x 23 cm (one auction catalog); other sources list 26.7 x 14 x 17.8 cm and 29.2 x 21 x 14 cm

Edition size

999

Publisher

Bernardaud, Limoges

Series

Celebration (porcelain editions, 2017)

Timeline

1. 1863

   Bernardaud is founded in Limoges, France.

2. 1955

   Jeff Koons is born in York, Pennsylvania.

3. 1986

   Koons makes Rabbit, three identical stainless steel sculptures of an inflatable bunny.

4. 2005

   Koons begins the monumental steel Balloon Rabbit, finished in 2010 in five colored versions including red.

5. 2013

   Balloon Dog (Orange) sells for $58.4 million at auction, a record for a living artist at the time.

6. May 27, 2017

   Bernardaud announces porcelain editions of Koons's Balloon Swan, Balloon Rabbit and Balloon Monkey, 999 of each.

7. May 2019

   One of Koons's 1986 steel Rabbits sells for $91.1 million.

8. Sep 2020

   A set of the red rabbit, yellow swan and blue monkey sells for $40,000 at auction in the U.S..

9. Jan 2025

   Another three-piece set sells for $30,480 at auction in the U.S..

10. Feb 12, 2025

    Balloon Rabbit (Red) no. 089/999 sells for $8,890 with fees at auction in the U.S..

The world in 2017

• Apr 9, 2017

  Damien Hirst's Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable opens in Venice.

• May 5, 2017

  The Venice Biennale opens; Carolee Schneemann receives the Golden Lion for lifetime achievement.

• May 18, 2017

  A 1982 Basquiat sells for $110.5 million, a record for an American artist at auction.

• Sep 22, 2017

  The Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa opens in a converted grain silo in Cape Town.

• Nov 11, 2017

  The Louvre Abu Dhabi, designed by Jean Nouvel, opens.

• Nov 15, 2017

  Salvator Mundi, attributed to Leonardo, sells for $450 million with fees.

Price record

A realized auction price is what a buyer actually paid on the date shown, including the buyer's premium where the sale reported it. It is the strongest kind of reference price, and it is a record of one sale of one object on one day, not a promise of what the next example will bring.

By reference price, Balloon Rabbit (Red) is number 79 of 100 in the art entries of the FLOAT 100. 88 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (74 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

• The steel Balloon Rabbit it copies weighs about three tons and stands more than four meters tall.
• Koons traces the rabbit to the inflatable Easter bunnies set out on front lawns in rural Pennsylvania when he was growing up.
• As a boy, Koons sold copies of Old Master paintings in his father's furniture shop.
• Bernardaud, which made the porcelain, has been in business in Limoges since 1863.
• One documented example was first sold through a U.S. department store before resurfacing at auction.